Oracle officially releases Java SE 7 for OS X
Oracle today announced the release of several new Java packages, including the new Java SE 7 update 6 that provides full support for Java SE 7 on OS X for the first time. The release follows the launch of the development kits of Java for OS X in April.
With this release, Oracle provides full availability of the Java SE 7 update 6 on Mac OS X , including the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java Development Kit (JDK) , as well as the JavaFX 2.2 platform enhanced client and JavaFX scene builder.
Consumers will soon be able to download the JRE for Mac OS X from Java.com , just as they do for all other operating systems. Oracle will provide automatic updates for Mac OS X at the same time as for Windows platforms.
Apple announced in October 2010 that it was discontinuing support for Java, with Steve Jobs noting that Apple's responsible versioning generally resulted in Java for OS X being a version behind Java for other platforms. Jobs stated that "it may not be the best way to do it ," and his belief was proven true earlier that year after the Flashback malware was able to infect 600.000 Macs , exploiting a Java vulnerability that had already been patched in most versions of Java, but not yet addressed by Apple.
Apple has continued to support Java SE 6 while contributing resources to the OpenJDK project to help Oracle and other developers build and maintain Java SE 7 and future versions. Notably, Apple's latest Java SE 6 update arrived in sync with Oracle releases for other platforms, indicating that Apple is working closely with Oracle to ensure Mac users are protected with up-to-date versions of Java on their systems.
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